Formatting

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Messages can be formatted, with options for bold text, strikethrough, and quotes. This lesson provides user commands, appearance, and REST API for formatting chat messages.

Quick navigation: all methods

Formatting Codes

If you send the following message in chat:

[B]bold[/B] text
        [U]underlined[/U] text
        [I]italic[/I] text
        [S]strikethrough[/S] text

It will be displayed as follows:

Formatting Result

Formatting using the REST API:

Note

This example uses the restCommand function. This is a method for sending data to Bitrix24. You can use your own function to call the method, the JavaScript method BX24.callMethod or industry standard B24PhpSDK.

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "bold text
                    underlined text
                    italic text
                    strikethrough text",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Line Breaks

Line breaks can be added to the text using the following characters:

[BR]
        \# BR \# (without spaces)
        \n

Any of these codes will create a line break:

Line Break Result

Line breaks using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "First line
                    Second line",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Quoting

Text can be quoted in two ways:

>>first line of the quote
        >>second line of the quote
        ------------------------------------------------------
        Dmitry Vlasov08.04.2016 13:06:49
        Hello everyone
        ------------------------------------------------------

The appearance of the quote will differ slightly — in the second case, the author and the time of the quote will be indicated:

Quote Result

Quoting using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => ">>first line of the quote
                    >>second line of the quote
                    ------------------------------------------------------
                    Dmitry Vlasov08.04.2016 13:06:49
                    Hello everyone
                    ------------------------------------------------------",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Any link in the text will automatically become clickable. If the link address has "rich formatting," it will automatically pick it up:

Link Result

Links using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "http://bitrix24.com",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Note

"Rich formatting" can be disabled by passing the key 'URL_PREVIEW' => 'N' when creating the message:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "http://bitrix24.com",
                "URL_PREVIEW" => "N"
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

If you send a link to an image https://files.shelenkov.com/bitrix/images/mantis.jpg (the link must end with .png, .jpg, .gif), it will automatically be converted into an image:

Link Result

You can create a link manually through the URL code - [URL=http://bitrix24.com]Link to Bitrix24[/URL]:

Link Result

Creating a link using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "[URL=http://bitrix24.com]Link to Bitrix24[/URL]",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Similarly to the URL code, there are special codes for links within the messenger.

  • [USER=5]Martha[/USER] - link to a user.
  • [CALL=84012334455]call[/CALL] - button to make a call through Bitrix24.
  • [CHAT=12]link to chat[/CHAT] - link to a chat.

Link Result

Formatting special codes using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "[USER=5]Martha[/USER]
                    [CALL=84012334455]call[/CALL]
                    [CHAT=12]link to chat[/CHAT]",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Indents

To create indents in a message, use the tab character:

[send=text]button name[/send] - instant sending of text to the bot.

Indents using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "
                    Indent
                        Indent
                            Indent",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

If you want the user to send some text by clicking on a link, use the SEND tag:

[send=text]button name[/send] - instant sending of text to the bot.

With this tag, you can prompt the user to send a command to your bot, but there is a more preferred method - Keyboards

Link Result

Active links (commands) using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "[send=text]button name[/send] - instant sending of text to the bot",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

If you need the user to add something to the command, use the PUT code:

[put=/search]Enter search string[/put]

Sending a bot command using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "Enter search string",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Icons

To add your own icon to a message, send the code:

[icon=http://files.shelenkov.com/images/unicorn.png size=30 title=Unicorn]

The icon will be displayed as follows:

Link Result

Additionally, the icon will be added to the Business Chat emoji set. You can remove the icon from the set by right-clicking on the icon in the set and selecting Delete.

A required property is specifying the path to the image (without spaces).

Additional attributes are available:

  • title - title;
  • height - height;
  • width - width;
  • size - height and width.

For optimal display on all devices, the icon size should be twice as large as specified in the display parameters.

Adding your own icon using the REST API:

restCommand(
            'imbot.message.add',
            Array(
                "DIALOG_ID" => $_REQUEST['data']['PARAMS']['DIALOG_ID'],
                "MESSAGE" => "[icon=http://files.shelenkov.com/images/unicorn.png size=30 title=Unicorn]",
            ),
            $_REQUEST["auth"]
        );

Note

For more details on how to use advanced format attachments within messages, read here.

Overview of Methods

Method

Description

im.dialog.messages.get

Retrieves a list of recent messages

im.dialog.messages.search

Searches for messages in the chat

im.dialog.read

Marks messages as "read"

im.dialog.unread

Marks messages as "unread"

im.dialog.writing

Sends the "User is typing" status

im.message.add

Adds a message

im.message.command

Executes a bot command

im.message.delete

Deletes a chatbot message

im.message.like

Changes the "Like" status of a message

im.message.share

Creates an object based on a message

im.message.update

Modifies a sent message
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How to Use Attachments